All Hobbit and No Orc

March 8

Another day in NZ and a day to explore Wellington, “Windy Wellington” as it’s known and it was a bit breezy today, but warm enough. The people of NZ continue to delight and everyone has a touch of the Hobbit about them – very calm, very friendly and not a grumpy Orc to be found as yet. We had some more charming experiences with the Kiwi folk and it was another top day on the gal tour of the Kiwi Isle.

First stop was the Information Centre to get some info and our bearings and we were helped by a lovely Canadian lady. There seems to be a large expat Canadian community here. We came across a few Canadians in Auckland, there were quite a few on the train yesterday and still more that we met down here. We checked with our helpful info lady on the bus routes we needed, then set off for a roam around the centre of Wellington. We wandered up and down streets, noticing how similar to San Francisco some of them were with the look of the houses and the steep streets. Wellington certainly has a different vibe to Auckland. I mean, it is the capital and it is a city and there’s no mistaking its very city like qualities, but it has a slightly less hurried pace and even some charming nods to the past. A man sitting in our aisle on the flight over from Melbourne commented that Auckland was one of the most multicultural cities in the world, whereas Wellington was, in his words, “like Canberra in the 1950’s”. Well, I’ll credit it with a bit more progress than that, but there’s a clear contrast to Auckland. As we wandered around the streets, we even saw a classic looking 4 Square corner store, still operating. We haven’t had those for years and there it was, still looking delightfully 70’s. Again…Perfik! We walked up to the War Memorial which was an amazing building, soaring into the clouds and with some really meaningful sculptures and memorials in the grounds around it. 

Time to take to the public transport network and we boarded the bus and headed out to Miramar to the Weta Workshop to learn a bit more about the creative talents of the team behind so many movies and projects. Steve and I came here years ago, but it’s moved on since we were here and the tour took us through the rooms with the original props from Lord of the Rings and various other movies and it was great to see it as the working, creative workshop that it is. In one room there was a viewing window and we could look in to the see their swordsmith at work, crafting an authentic steel sword. We also saw another of the team, ‘Doc Foil’ as he’s known, crafting figures from good old kitchen foil. This was the only area we were allowed to take photos. This technique was quite amazing and so great to see how they are able to make intricate and detailed work from an everyday material like foil. A good message to the young’un’s I reckon, that you can get your creative juices flowing and do real, fair dinkum quality sculpture and work from things you can find around your own home. All you need is imagination. 

For anyone interested, here are a few factoids we learnt about the work at Weta and for anyone who doesn’t give a fig about such factoids, you can just skip this bit!

* When Weta was asked to work on Lord of the Rings, the average age of the team was only 22 years old and only a handful of the whole team had ever done any film work before.

* Avatar: the Way of Water took 11 years to make, starting with the concept drawings that took 5 years, then making all the costumes took another 6 years, then the costumes were scanned and rendered onto the characters for the film and the actual hand made costumes then just ended up in storage, their job done.

* The swords made for the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe had both a real steel version made for shots that involved a character just standing and holding a sword and when there was any movement or fight, an aluminium version was used, since it was lighter and wouldn’t take an actor’s head or legs off if flailed about by an actor unaccustomed to sword fighting.

* Viggo Mortensen,  being the method actor that he is, insisted on only using real steel swords for all his scenes in Lord of the Rings and was also seen walking into a café in downtown Wellington after filming, with sword on his waist. Now that’s what you call staying in character! 

All in all, it was another interesting dive into the creative process used by some insanely talented folk. Afterwards we took a stroll into Miramar, then hopped back on the bus and choofed back into central Wellington and took a stroll by the harbour. The sun shone, the wind blew, but it was only gusts rather than gales, so entirely put-up-withable and the water sparkled. We passed numerous happy smiling dogs enjoying a stroll by the water and all in all it was a super end to a top day.

The top day factor did include more encounters with those friendly Kiwis and here’s part of the tally for today:

1. Super helpful and friendly lady at the information centre.

2. Every single driver stops for pedestrian crossings way ahead of when they need to and no one is feeling stared down, glared at or rushed to cross a road, those drivers just crawl up to the zebra crossing when even a glimpse of a possible pedestrian is in sight and the walkers can just take their time meandering across the street, with no accompanying glare from a frustrated and clock watching driver.

3. 95% of the people getting off the bus, regardless of age, from the older to the teenagers, thanked that bus driver with a “thank you”, a wave or a “thank you driver.” Lovely.

4. When we caught the bus back from Miramar, a couple getting on in front of us needed change for their tickets. The driver didn’t have enough, so she simply reached behind her, pulled out her own bag and gave them change from her own wallet. No fuss. No drama. Then the ticket machine decided to have a tantrum and wouldn’t print, so she simply said if she couldn’t get it working, she’d just give them a free trip. Again…no fuss, no bother and all with a smile and friendliness to go along with it. All just calm, Hobbit-like kindness and friendliness. We sat on that bus with a feature length smile on our dials from having witnessed that!

So, our ventures into Kiwi Land have so far been delightful, charming, friendly, interesting and educational. Just all round tops. We’ll see what tomorrow brings, but I’m banking on it featuring a few more Hobbit-like folk because that Kiwi calm seems to just be in the DNA, or the water, or maybe it just blows in on the wind! There’s enough of that about so we should be looking down the barrel of some more gale force friendlies. Thank you dears, we’ll look forward to those gusts!